I took a ride on the Dallas Streetcar last week. Pretty neat! The ride was free; I am not sure whether it is DART's intention to keep it that way or eventually charge a fare.
I rode it from Union Station to Oak Cliff, had lunch at El Fenix, which is one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, and rode it back to Union Station.
The streetcar operates on battery power from Union Station to the first stop in Oak Cliff, where the operator manually raises the pantograph to contact the overhead wire.
The operator told me that the car uses only six per cent of the battery's capacity to power it from Union Station to the first stop in Oak Cliff.
The interior of the car is finished in DART's blue, yellow and white motif. It is appealing, but the car rides a bit rough. It did not have the solid feel of DART's light rail equipment.
On the Oak Cliff side of the run I noticed a lot of rail stacked along the right-of-way. A supervisor that happened to be on the car told me it is intended for the planned extension to the Bishop Arts District.
I hope you mean the operator presses a button to raise or lower the pantograph, not that the operator manually raises or lowers it.
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Where did the car ride roughly? Switches and/or curves? Or generally? If the latter, there would seem to be badly installed track.
gardendance I hope you mean the operator presses a button to raise or lower the pantograph, not that the operator manually raises or lowers it.
You are correct. The operator pushes a button to raise or lower the pantograph, as opposed to having a sensor do it automatically.
daveklepper Where did the car ride roughly? Switches and/or curves? Or generally? If the latter, there would seem to be badly installed track.
The car vibrated lightly over the entire run, which is approximately 1.5 miles. It does not have the same solid feel that I get from riding DART's light rail vehicles.
Of course, rough is a personal reaction. Others may come away from the ride think that the car is as smooth as skating on smooth ice.
If it vibrated over the entire run, then someone in management is not doing his/her job. During commissioning stage, the test operation, the final balance between tread-, dynamic or regenetive- and magnetic-track- braking is established on each car. This not something that can just be set at the factory and left alone. I watched this process at Jerusalem light rail, and I am sure it is done with new equipment for the city and suburbs Dallas Light Rail system. Then, just before regular service, the minor flat spots that developed during the adjustment process, which are inevitable, are cured with the shop's wheel truing machine. What you are telling me is that the streetcars did not visit the light rail truing machine after their brake adjustment process (the light rail cars did), and the streetcars have minor wheel flat spots. This is very bad. If left alone, rail corregations will appear, and the whole operation will become very noisy and rough. You could do Dallas a favor by writing a complaint letter and you can quote me and give people my email address:
daveklepper@yahoo.com
I must also point out that standards for freightcar wheels are not applicable for self-propelled railcars of any type that operate in the street. To prevent corregation and noise, zero tolerance is required.
daveklepper If it vibrated over the entire run, then someone in management is not doing his/her job. During commissioning stage, the test operation, the final balance between tread-, dynamic or regenetive- and magnetic-track- braking is established on each car. This not something that can just be set at the factory and left alone. I watched this process at Jerusalem light rail, and I am sure it is done with new equipment for the city and suburbs Dallas Light Rail system. Then, just before regular service, the minor flat spots that developed during the adjustment process, which are inevitable, are cured with the shop's wheel truing machine. What you are telling me is that the streetcars did not visit the light rail truing machine after their brake adjustment process (the light rail cars did), and the streetcars have minor wheel flat spots. This is very bad. If left alone, rail corregations will appear, and the whole operation will become very noisy and rough. You could do Dallas a favor by writing a complaint letter and you can quote me and give people my email address: daveklepper@yahoo.com
I am not an engineer. As I noted in my post, my reaction was purely personal.
From an engineering perspect the ride may be OK. My personal reaction was that the car did not feel as solid as DART's light rail vehicles, which I ride frequently.
Tinny is a word that comes to mind when comparing the streetcar with the light rail vehicles. Again, that is just a personal reaction. It is not based on a scientific or engineering analysis.
but was there regular, repeated vibration?
I also rode the new Dallas Streetcar within days of its opening, and I noted the "rough ride". One possibility is that Brookville Equipment tried to sidestep the original PCC patents and used a wheel design that does not incorporate a resiliant layer between the tread and the hub of the wheel. The DARTRail LRVs do incorporate that design, and it is almost universal in the transit industry today.
One would have to climb under the car to determine what Brookville did, or did not, use for wheel design. They are fully experienced in dealing with the PCC patents, having rebuilt SEPTA PCCs and building new New Orleans Red cars using those designs. However, nothing on their website or in any published material I have been able to find addresses the question.
These are, of course, the only two operating units Brookville ever built. If Brookville did not include resiliant wheels in their design, shame on the City of Dallas for buying the proverbial "pig in a poke" and the City should make any future purchases contingent on Brookville retrofitting the first two cars with resiliant wheels, as well as any and all new deliverables.
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